The 1st German National Confucius Institute Deans Assembly Convenes
XINHUA, Hamburg, June 25th (By Han Mo), Eleven Chinese and German Confucius Institute deans hailing from all 11 German Confucius Institutes gathered in Hamburg to join the first assembly of Confucius Institute deans with the aim to summarize past years' institute operation experiences and to make discussions on issues such as effective measures for Chinese language and cultural promotion. During the assembly, Confucius Institute leaders shared experiences and exchanged ideas with each other over the development of the Confucius Institute.
The assembly held in the Confucius Institute at the University of Hamburg attracted the participation of deans of ten Confucius Institutes and 1 Confucius Classroom from across Germany, with discussion topics across the board touching upon almost all aspects of the construction of the Confucius Institute, these included: curriculum progression, selection of teaching materials, distribution of teacher resources, financial management, market development etc. The participating leaders of the Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classroom spoke at great length upon their experience and lessons in the teaching and promotion of Chinese language and culture in the light of their own work in practice.
Geng Baosheng, the Chinese Dean of the Confucius Institute at the University of Hamburg told a Xinhua correspondent: "this is the first time in Germany that so many Confucius Institute deans have gathered together to share their experience." In addition, the presence of the Chinese Deans of the Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna has "in fact, expanded the scale of the assembly to the entirety of German-speaking regions."
Hu Haiyan, the German Dean of the Confucius Institute at the University of Freiburg said: "the discussion topics are so detailed and close to the real situations of the teaching frontline, the assembly is indeed most timely. Over the last two years German Confucius Institutes have developed rapidly, in the meantime we have met a number of similar questions and confusions; such as how to effectively organize and manage our Chinese programs and teachers, how to allow for Chinese and German deans to work closely together and so forth. Through adequate communication, those of different areas are able to learn from each other and make fewer mistakes."
Kang Yiqing, the German Dean of the Confucius Institute at the University of Hamburg revealed that the most important fruit bore by the assembly was the determination for a regular meeting system for Confucius Institute deans in Germany. He pointed out: "our future assemblies will be held for different themes in order to make them more detailed and practical. Meanwhile, deans have also reached an agreement on resource sharing, decided to conduct regular reports on cultural activities and then summarize these activities by an exhibition tour or an exhibition show with a view to improve the utilization ratio of resources. "
During the assembly deans put forward the idea that the management mechanism of the Confucius Institute should be heightened after being put into practice for a period of time. The Deans-Level conference shall change its traditional pattern of communication between two points; more groups will be involved in the conference in order to: seek common grounds, share useful information and provide detailed solutions for each other on commonly raised questions.
